Representative image of a video content creator at work.
Credit: iStock Photo
The world's most popular video-streaming platform YouTube has released its annual Culture & Trend Report, in which they have claimed (based on a survey) that 65 per cent of the Gen Z population (among 320 surveyed in the age bracket of 14-40) consider themselves as 'content creators'.
The report hails advancements in technology as the primary driver behind youngsters coming into the content creation space.
This effect can also be seen in other forms of fan-generated reels or Shorts (YouTube's name for similar content) that drive user engagement.
"As fans become creators, their creativity elevates mass media, while also spawning entirely new breakthrough phenomena. Creation tools like Gen AI make fan creativity even more accessible, and fans expect their media to be malleable and to be empowered to remix it," the report said.
It revealed that around eight per cent of Gen Z describe themselves "professional fans who earn money from their creation."
The report reveals that the space for fan-created content is booming on the platform as fan content often expand beyond the initial source and gets their own fan folowing in the process.
Around 80 per cent of respondents (among 847 surveyed) said that they "use YouTube to consume content about the person or thing they’re
a fan of at least weekly."
47 per cent of Gen Z individuals (among 312 surveyed) said that they are a fan of someone or something "that no one they know personally is a part of."
Brand engagement
The same survey has revealed that 74 per cent of Gen Z fans "like seeing brands engage with things they’re a fan of."
The report brings up a case in point—McDonald's—which tapped into the anime fanbase by creating their own version of an animated music video, which came after they allowed fans to generate content using their Grimace Shake. McDonald's also became the #2 trending topic in the US in 2023 because of this initiative.